Revisiting the Seasonal Evolution of the Indian Ocean Dipole from the Perspective of Process-Based Decomposition

The seasonal phase-locking feature of the Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD)is well documented.However,the seasonality ten-dency of sea surface temperature anomalies(SSTAs)during the development of the IOD has not been widely investigated.The SSTA tendencies over the two centers of the IOD peak in September-October-November are of different monthly amplitudes.The SSTA tendency over the west pole is small before June-July-August but dramatically increases in July-August-September.Meanwhile,the SSTA tendency over the east pole gradually increases before June-July-August and decreases since then.The growth rate attribution of the SSTAs is achieved by examining the roles of radiative and non-radiative air-sea coupled thermodynamic processes through the climate feedback-response analysis method(CFRAM).The CFRAM results indicate that oceanic dynamic processes largely contribute to the total SSTA tendency for initiating and fueling the IOD SSTAs,similar to previous studies.However,these results cannot ex-plain the monthly amplitudes of SSTA tendency.Four negative feedback processes(cloud radiative feedback,atmospheric dynamic processes,surface sensible,and latent heat flux)together play a damping role opposite to the SSTA tendency.Nevertheless,the sea surface temperature-water vapor feedback shows positive feedback.Specifically,variations in SSTAs can change water vapor con-centrations through evaporation,resulting in anomalous longwave radiation that amplifies the initial SSTAs through positive feedback.The effect of water vapor feedback is well in-phase with the monthly amplitudes of SSTA tendency,suggesting that the water vapor feedback might modulate the seasonally dependent SSTA tendency during the development of the IOD.